Overcast Mind
by siqwithaQ
Summary: A boy stumbles onto Hogwarts grounds with no memory of who he is. Life persists, in a slightly different way. Meanwhile, Ace copes with loss.


_The air had been damp, and the clouds had hung low in the summer sky on the day those lives had been irrevocably changed._

**/\/\/\/\/\**

Albus had seen it from his window – the brief flicker of red beyond the Forbidden Forest's tree line – and headed down to investigate. It could have been any of a great number of things: animal, blood, Hagrid, House-elf, spell, ambush…

That last one was particularly undesirable. However impenetrable the school seemed, it was at the very beginning of a war, at a time when only a few teachers remained on Hogwarts' grounds…

An ambush now would be devastating move, should Tom somehow discover a way to do so. Therefore, he had left with wand in hand, prepared to strike at any sign of altercation.

He strolled through the trees, trying to make it seem as if nothing were wrong while mentally preparing himself for a fracas. After all, there was no need to unnecessarily worry the odd colleague who saw him. He was probably only working himself into a superfluous state of paranoia, anyhow.

A twig snapped.

He spun.

Ready for enemies, poised for defence, he was unimaginably surprised when he met eyes with a young boy, no older than nine. Their eyes locked in identically startled expressions and neither spoke. After a moment of silence, Albus slipped his wand into its holster as the boy lifted a hand.

"Yo," the youth greeted brusquely.

"Uh, yes. Hello," Albus replied, unable to contain his bewilderment.

He opened his mouth to make a burning inquiry, to ask him who he was, but at that moment the boy collapsed.

**/\/\/\/\/\**

Albus watched the boy carefully. They were now sitting in his office, the boy on the other side of the desk.

He was quite the curiosity. His black hair had been as tidy as that of a longhaired dog after a leap into the ocean and a roll in the mud. Poppy had insisted on washing out the majority of the dirt when she saw him – though it seems some was far too determined to stay, as a few strands were still stiff with caked on mire and sand. His complexion had been marred with soot and dust, though Poppy had gotten to that as well, and far more thoroughly. Not a speck was left to be seen upon his face, though it was slightly red and raw from the pressure of Poppy's scrubbing. While he looked of Brazilian descent, his eyes were a deep midnight blue, a shade uncharacteristic of the country's natives. In addition, he wore a sleeveless red shirt with faded Japanese kanji on the front, suggesting he could speak the language. He wore jean shorts and sandals withal, and Albus had found a straw hat sitting close by in the forest, though Poppy had it at the moment.

Albus' eyes lingered on the alarmingly sizable scar beneath the boy's left eye. He wondered at what a young boy like him had to do to get such a brutal laceration.

A diagnostics charm by Poppy had revealed that the boy was indeed nine years old, and that the scar had been there for at least two years. That meant he was only seven when he experienced whatever pain brought him that mark.

How cruel the world could be.

The charm also uncloaked that he was a Wizard — Muggleborn — explaining how he had entered Hogwarts grounds in the first place. The wards around Hogwarts would compel a Muggle to remember a task that they urgently needed to attend to.

Although he had always tried to monitor Muggleborn children as soon as he became aware of them, it was plausible that one so close to school age slipped past his register. Because ultimately, you couldn't tell a Magical child apart from a Muggle child until you performed a test on them or witnessed them perpetrate Accidental Magic. And since it would be ridiculous to test every child in Britain for magic — as well as dangerous, since it would threaten a breach of the Statute of Secrecy — he had quondam tended to rely on the latter method.

Most importantly, the diagnostic had led them to fathom a small problem of the child's. He apparently had a little condition coined by Muggles as _Dissociative Fugue_. In laymen's terms, amnesia of the identity.

Currently, the boy was chowing away from an extra large bag of Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans Albus had supplied. He wore a ponderous expression as he popped them into his mouth one by one, stating the flavour he determined for each bean after swallowing (such as cherry, black pepper, candyfloss, earthworm, banana, lemon, watermelon, grass, soap, and sausage, which he had seemed especially pleased with).

All the while the Headmaster considered what to do with him. _Dissociative Fugue_ was a non-permanent state, but how long it would remain is unpredictable. Typically, it would last a span of days to months; however, it could possibly persist for many years.

While it would be no skin off his nose to have the boy live in Hogwarts' grounds until he regained his memory, if the spell of amnesia did continue for years, then he was sure the boy would get lonely during the holidays, when nobody his own age was around and the only adults that stayed behind were swamped in paperwork.

And so, he compiled a list of criteria. Whoever the boy was to stay with had to have an association with the Light, a reputation of kindness to children, enough land to house him, and perchance a child or two of their own around the boy's age.

A pleased smile spread across Albus' face and his eyes twinkled madly as he stood, telling the boy to wait where he was, and practically skipped to the fireplace to floo Hermanus Potter.

**/\/\/\/\/\**

"… soon as I could manage…"

"… Always a pleasure … old friend…"

"... ever so surprised… Why?"

"… I have a favour to ask of you, Hermanus."

The voices from outside the door were getting closer, and now the boy could hear their words much more clearly. Not that it mattered; he already knew they were discussing him. He already knew the bearded man was telling the other voice all about him.

No, he was more interested in _that_, whatever it was called.

The door opened behind him, he heard it, but he ignored it in favour of staring at _it_.

"Mr… My boy?" He heard the hesitation. The bearded man had wanted to call him by the name he didn't have. "Come, I'd like for you to meet someone."

"But…" he nearly whimpered, reluctant to tear his eyes away from the thing that so fascinated him.

Curiously, the bearded man approached the window he stood by. When he saw what the boy was watching so avidly, he smiled.

"The lake is very pretty, isn't it?" he asked.

"Lake?" You could _hear_ the wonderment in his voice. It was absolutely precious. The boy looked down at the lake again. "But… shouldn't it be bigger? A lot bigger?"

Hermanus watched attentively from his stance at the doorframe, intrigued.

"No, it is but a lake," Albus replied, raising an eyebrow. "A fairly large one, at that."

"No, I'm _certain_ it should be bigger."

Hermanus stepped forward. "Maybe you are thinking of the ocean?"

"Ocean?" The boy looked down at his hands. "I… maybe. Yeah. I think so."

"You like the water?" As the boy nodded, Hermanus' eyes gained a sparkle to rival Albus' own. "Superb. Ever thought about sailing?"

"As long as I'm captain," the boy replied in a way that seemed automatic.

Hermanus grinned. There was no way he was going to say no now; not when he had already decided on the boy's name.

**/\/\/\/\/\**

"…So he's going to be staying with us for a while. He's a Muggleborn, and his name is Meris," Hermanus told his wife, Addolorata, and his son, James. They stared at him incredulously, habitually glancing at the young boy who stood next to him in silence.

"Isn't it more of a Wizarding custom to give children foreign names like Meris? I wasn't aware Muggles had taken to imitating it," Addolorata mused.

"They haven't," Hermanus corrected. "_I _gave him that name. He can't remember his own, you know, amnesia and all that."

"Why Meris?" James asked.

"He liked the lake quite a bit, so I thought—"

"Let me guess," James interrupted. "It has something to do with water in some language, doesn't it?"

"Yes, it does. Now, Dolly," he turned to his wife, "where's that old sailing boat of ours gotten to?"

As his mother and father went to look in the storage for the sailing boat, James glanced back at Meris.

The boy looked about nine years old, which made him only a year younger than James. His hair was as messy as an actual Potter, but he had a rather exotic skin tone and dark blue eyes rather than the brown James shared with his mother or the hazel of his father. He was a little rougher around the edges than would be expected of someone of the Potter's social class, with calloused hands and a noticeable scar beneath his eye.

James didn't know how they expected this Meris to fit in in their home, but for his father's sake, he would _try_ to get along with him.

"So, Meris," he said, effectively gaining the boy's attention, "do you like… pranks?"

**/\/\/\/\/\**

The patrons of Party's bar were confused. When a freckled twelve-year-old boy none of them had ever seen before rushed in and started looking under tables, chairs, and floorboards, no one was quite sure how to react. When the boy started questioning them of the whereabouts of another boy none of them had seen in two years, they knew even less how they were supposed to react. Luckily, Makino was there to react for them.

She asked him what was wrong.

He said Luffy was missing.

She asked him for the details.

So he told her everything. How he and Luffy had been sparring, how they had had another petty argument, how Luffy had stormed off and hadn't come back. How he'd gone to apologise (for once) and Luffy was nowhere to be found. How he'd checked the tree house, Dadan's hut, Grey Terminal, and even _inside the city_ and yet there was no sign of Luffy anywhere.

Makino asked if he had checked along the waterfront. He hadn't.

Ace ran around the island's perimeter. Twice.

Still no Luffy.

A course of action was made. Ace would go home for the night, and if Luffy did not return on his own, he should come back and a search party would be formed.

The next day a group of the patrons set out in search of him.

Nothing was found.

And so each day progressed after that, as they searched and found not a single trace. The citizens of Windmill helped. Dadan helped. Garp helped.

And yet still nothing.

**/\/\/\/\/\**

James and Meris hid their laughter in their hands as they ducked behind a counter, waiting for someone to come through the door and set off their trap.

They didn't have to wait very long. Rinny, one of the House-elves, came through after a minute, carrying a load of laundry. The bottomless bucket fell from its place above the doorframe and swallowed her whole.

They glanced over at the bucket, which sat upside-down on the carpet. It jiggled violently as Rinny panicked and they succumbed to raucous laughter. Once they got it out of their system, they freed her from their trap and laughed even more as she scolded them.

"Bad, bad little masters! Little masters is not to be trappings the House-elves!" she reprimanded.

"W-we're sorry, Rinny," James stuttered through the laughter.

Meris continued, "We just set it for whoever came through the door, that's all!"

"It's just a coincidence it got you, we swear!" James vowed.

She huffed at them, annoyed, but picked up the laundry and continued on her way.

Meris had been living with them for months now. He still had no progress in regaining his memories, but that was okay. He and James had become as close as brothers, and neither of them was in a rush to lose family.

James remembered how on the first night, Meris had woken him up at about two in the morning. Apparently the younger boy had had a nightmare, so James let him share his room for the night.

And the next night.

And the next.

Meris had nightmares as often as he slept, but only when he slept alone. So his bed was moved into James' room.

It made James wonder what they were going to do when he went away to Hogwarts. He would, after all, be eleven next year. But for now, he didn't have to worry about that.

**/\/\/\/\/\**

All right, so. Currently, he _did_ have to worry about that. Because he was going to Hogwarts. _Right now._ In fact, they were standing outside the train at that very moment.

Over the last few months, he and Meris had grown even closer. They were brothers, best friends, and partners in crime, and James did _not_ look forward to leaving for Hogwarts without him. He didn't think he'd _ever_ make another friend as good as Meris.

As he loaded himself onto the train, he looked back through the window to wave a final goodbye for the term to Meris. They would see each other over the winter hols, but it seemed so far off at that moment. He was so busy thinking about how much he would miss Meris that he didn't watch where he was going and bumped into another student.

"My bad!"

"Sorry!"

James blinked and shook his head. "You don't have to apologise. It was my fault, I wasn't watching where I was going." He scolded himself mentally. He couldn't sulk all year! He had to make some friends and have fun, get his mind off the homesickness. "My name's James. And you are?"

"I'm Peter," the boy said quietly.

"Well, Peter, how's about we go find ourselves somewhere to sit?"

**/\/\/\/\/\**

Remus wasn't looking forward to Hogwarts. Not with his _problem_.

He knew the best option would be to avoid having friends as much as he could, because if he did have friends, they would surely notice his monthly absences. And then everyone would know.

Luckily, the boy he was sharing a compartment with didn't seem very eager to make friends either. So Remus and the stranger sat in comfortable silence.

Sirius wasn't looking forward to Hogwarts. Not with his _family history._

He knew it would be tough to make friends. The Blacks were a Slytherin family, and his mother wouldn't approve of him having anything other than Slytherin friends. Non-Slytherins would also be reluctant to talk to him at all, due to his family name. But he wasn't like his family, and he would have a bad time getting on with real Slytherins at school.

The boy sharing his compartment only sat quietly. He was glad, because if he tried talking to him it would only be getting his hopes raised for disappointment. So Sirius and the stranger sat in tense silence.

It was broken when the door slid open to reveal two boys their age.

"Look at these two moping in here," one said boisterously to the other. "What do you think? Shall we try to raise their spirits?"

"I, uh, I guess," the other answered bashfully.

"Well then," he offered his hand to Remus. "I'm James Potter, and that over there is Peter."

Remus hesitated. Friends were a bad idea, but it was only polite, wasn't it?

"Remus. Remus Lupin."

"…Sirius. Just Sirius."

**/\/\/\/\/\**

Ace was thirteen now.

It had been a year. For an entire, horrible year, Luffy had been missing.

He felt like a terrible big brother.

Three years ago, he had lost his first brother. One year ago, he had lost the second. He couldn't protect either of them and it made him feel like a failure. But it went still deeper than that. Luffy was his reason to live.

What was he supposed to do without him?

**/\/\/\/\/\**

As Aaron, Penelope was sorted into Slytherin and Arlington, Naveen was put into Hufflepuff, Sirius worried. The three he had talked to on the train were… fun. He _liked_ them.

But James was a Potter.

And Peter was convinced he'd be a Hufflepuff.

He had pegged Remus for a Ravenclaw, however, with his nose in his book, so hopefully his mother wouldn't mind that too much. The Blacks considered Ravenclaw the only house worth consorting with, other than Slytherin, obviously. Brains being the next best thing after cunning.

But Sirius doubted any of them would still want to talk to him soon. Not after they knew the surname he had hidden from them.

"BLACK, SIRIUS," the teacher called.

As he stepped up to the hat, he didn't dare look backwards. He didn't dare look back to see the shock, the disappointment, the _spite_ he knew he would see on their faces. Instead, he examined the tables of already sorted students.

He could see the Slytherin table was fully expectant, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world that Sirius would belong to them. The Hufflepuff and Gryffindor tables were sizing him up uncertainly, as if judging the threat he presented. The Ravenclaws were as disinterested as could be expected, though a few watched him curiously.

Everything he knew told him that he shouldn't be a Slytherin.

_**No? Then where should you be?**_

He nearly jumped out of his skin. Whose voice was that and what was it doing in his head?

_**I'm the Sorting Hat, squirt. You let me **_**into**_** your head.**_

The Hat. The Hat that was going to decide his future was inside his head and _talking to him_. He really shouldn't be too surprised, growing up in a pureblood home brought quite a few more strange situations than this, but something was literally _inside_ his _head_ and it was a little disconcerting.

_**I get that a lot, actually. It's a shame you can't have much more creative thoughts than that.**_

That stung a little.

_**My bad, kid. Tell you what; I'm not going to decide your future today. Today, **_**you**_** tell **_**me**_** where you fit best.**_

Sirius was not Slytherin. He never would be. He didn't study enough to be a Ravenclaw, so that left Hufflepuff or Gryffindor.

_**You would eat those Hufflepuffs alive, kid.**_

So Gryffindor would be his choice.

_**You sure? This will affect a great deal of your life, so choose wisely.**_

_I _have_ chosen wisely._

_**Well if your sure, it better be… **_**GRYFFINDOR!**

Nobody clapped at first.

The Slytherins were shell-shocked.

The Hufflepuffs and Gryffindors were perplexed.

The Ravenclaws were mildly amused and intrigued.

And then James started applauding.

He was jumping, clapping, whooping with joy, and generally looking like an excitable dork. Remus and Peter joined him in clapping and cheering, though they didn't bother to jump around quite as much. They were all cheering, clapping, and _smiling_ for him when they knew his family name.

He never felt so confused.

Slowly, the Gryffindor table started clapping too, and as Sirius walked down to take at seat, some people even reached over to give him a pat on the back and congratulate him.

As he watched the rest of the Sorting slightly breathlessly, he made sure to cheer the loudest as Lupin, Remus, Pettigrew, Peter, and Potter, James were placed in Gryffindor with him.

The Howler would be worth it.

**/\/\/\/\/\**

Meris was bored.

Meris was very, very bored. Why did no one tell him it would be so boring without James around? Because he was _so_ bored. He couldn't think of anything to do. _James_ was the idea guy.

"Loomer!" he called. A House-elf popped beside him.

"Yes, little master?" Loomer asked.

Meris smiled. Loomer was always his and James' favourite elf. "Do you want to play a game?"

"If that is what little master is wanting," he complied.

"Great!" Meris cheered. "How about hide and seek? You hide first."

Loomer nodded, and Meris covered his eyes and began to count. House-elves always knew the best hiding spots in any house, so he knew it would take forever to find Loomer. Exactly as he wanted. The more time he could spend, the better.

He figured he would get a lot better at hide and seek while James was gone.

**/\/\/\/\/\**

He had to get stronger.

All Ace could focus on was that he **had** to get stronger. He had to.

He would never lose anyone again. He _would_ protect the people he cared about. _Nothing like this would ever happen again_.

He had to get stronger. It was all he _could_ do.

He would get stronger, and then, when he set sail, he would become famous enough for the three of them. He would earn the bounty his brothers had deserved.

He had to.

**/\/\/\/\/\**

At Hogwarts, James noticed something. Something so very, very important that he wondered why he hadn't realised it before.

Pranking just wasn't as fun when you did it alone.

Sure, he could still prank successfully (he charmed this one gossip to be unable to open her mouth whenever she tried to speak about another person) but without Meris, it just wasn't as fulfilling.

So he introduced the other Gryffindor boys to his own brand of fun.

Remus found a fun challenge in searching for the perfect spells suited to each prank and learning how to execute each one flawlessly.

Sirius found an exciting outlet for all the enthusiasm and mischievousness he had been forced to lock away during his childhood in an oppressive environment.

Peter found a bolster to his confidence in each successive exploit and new joys in the concept of friendship he was relatively new to.

And James found he wasn't quite as homesick anymore.

**/\/\/\/\/\**

Meris wasn't homesick. He couldn't be. He was already at home.

No, he wasn't homesick, but he was… _brothersick_. He missed his older brother James. A _lot_.

He wasn't quite sure what to do with himself without James, and it hadn't been longer than a few weeks yet. Their father had already taken him sailing so many times that the same old lake lost its appeal, he had improved in hide and seek to the point that he could tell where Loomer would be without opening his eyes, and he had even learned to knit. His parents were getting fed up with having him in their hair all the time.

"Hermanus, that boy needs something to _do_!" Addolorata exclaimed one day. "We can't just let him sit there, lonely and bored! The boy needs some _fun_!"

So they bought him a potions kit and an owl.

**/\/\/\/\/\**

Sirius and James glared at each other over the table. It was a serious issue. So serious, in fact, that nobody made the usual pun.

Peter and Remus had thought it was ridiculous. How could the matter of who gets the last blueberry tart be serious, they asked. Oh, how wrong they were.

Sirius and James were poised, both about to make a dive for it, when the usual swarm of owls that arrived in the morning swooped in. This time, however, one landed directly in front of James. Sirius used the distraction to snatch the tart off the table for himself as James wrestled the letter from the owl's grip. Peter, who sat next to James, was sure he heard James angrily mutter something about bad timing.

_James,_

_Check it out, Mum and Dad bought an owl for us to send letters with! I named her Toenail and she is __awesome__._

"Wait, _Toenail_?" James asked disbelievingly. He gained the attention of his friends easily with that odd statement.

Remus arched an eyebrow. "What _about_ a toenail?"

"The bird. The bird's name is Toenail," James clarified.

"Who the heck named an owl _Toenail_?" Sirius asked.

"My little brother, apparently."

"I didn't know you had a little brother," Peter stated inquisitively.

"Oh, well, I do," he revealed. "His name's Meris; he's a year younger than we are."

"I have the same, except we don't get along very well," Sirius told them. "Regulus is his name."

"I'm an only child, but I've always wanted to be a big brother," Peter said. "What's it like?"

"It's a little like having a very clingy friend who lives in your house and borrows your stuff without asking," James affirmed at the same time Sirius claimed, "It's kind of like having this kid who hates you be more loved by your mother than you are."

The three of them all stared at Sirius.

"What?" he asked defensively. "I'm just stating my mind."

**/\/\/\/\/\**

James hated Severus. Severus hated James. But Severus was friends with Lily Evans, and Lily Evans was a Gryffindor. And James _liked_ Lily Evans.

So inevitably, James and Severus were occasionally forced into interaction.

When that happens, it would eventually degenerate into an insult match between the two. Sometimes Lily and Sirius would join in.

Quite a few detentions were gleaned from those times. And when they returned from those detentions, Peter would be wearing a look that said, _"You shouldn't have done that,"_ and Remus one that said, _"I told you so."_

**/\/\/\/\/\**

James and Meris had used Toenail to exchange letters all semester. When the winter hols rolled around, there wasn't a tale of prankery that Meris had yet to hear. There wasn't a potions experiment that James didn't know the outcome to.

They sent three more letters on Toenail, one to each of James' friends, inviting them to come visit.

Sirius' reply was sent on a scrap of paper. _Mum said no. Sorry._

Remus' reply was only slightly longer. _My mother is ill and I need to stay and take care of her._

Peter's reply was affirmative. _Sure, but only after Christmastime._

So Meris got to meet Peter, and the three of them arranged a get-well gift for Remus' mother. Peter and James chatted animatedly about the pranks they would pull when they got back to school. Meris had many creative suggestions.

The next semester was waiting.

**/\/\/\/\/\**

January First.

Ace's birthday.

Another birthday he would spend alone, with no Sabo or Luffy to celebrate it with. If it weren't for them, he never would have celebrated it in the first place. After all, who would celebrate the birth of a monster and the death of a lovely woman by its hands?

Not him.

But his brothers? They would. And they did.

Ace wasn't sure why he should be happy. Sure, he was fourteen now. But two years had past since he had anyone to celebrate his life with, and all he could think about was how this marks the day he'd lost the first person he considered real family. And that reminded him of how he'd lost everyone he'd considered real family after that.

Luffy would have been eleven the next time May came around. Sabo should have been fourteen, too. But he wasn't.

So Ace spent his birthday the same way he spent every other day. By training.

**/\/\/\/\/\**

The rest of the school year passed uneventfully. Remus and Sirius did once make a bet that resulted in Sirius wearing a chicken suit to class for a day, however, but not much topped _that_ occasion.

Summer was warm and filled with long days of sailing and pranking. Meris learned many things about potions from James' textbooks while James avoided his summer homework for as long as possible.

When the end of summer came, it was Meris' turn to go to Hogwarts.

**/\/\/\/\/\**

When they boarded the express, James told him to go find his own compartment. His reasoning being that _he_ had found his best friends that first day while looking for somewhere to sit, so why couldn't Meris do the same?

So Meris searched the train up and down for a compartment with an extra seat. The first one he found contained two second years, a boy and a girl.

"Hello," he greeted them. "Can I sit here?"

The boy looked ready to tell him to shove off, but the girl nodded genially.

"Sure! I'm Lily and this is Severus," she introduced.

"I'm Meris." He turned to the boy. "You're Severus? My brother mentioned you in some of his letters."

"Oh, really." Severus said disinterestedly.

"Yup! He said—" _He said you're a slimy git. _"—He said you're good at potions."

The three of them spent the rest of the train ride discussing potions techniques and ingredients, Severus becoming more animated the longer they spoke and delved into more advanced potions for their age.

Meris never once mentioned his surname.

**/\/\/\/\/\**

He stood with the rest of the first years as they waited to be sorted. James had warned him in advance about the singing hat, but it didn't make it any less cool when he actually saw it.

"POTTER, MERIS."

He stepped forwards. A quick sweep of the room with eyes showed him the shock on Severus' face and the encouraging smiles on that of James' friends before the hat covered his view.

_**What a simple one. **_**GRYFFINDOR!**

**/\/\/\/\/\**

James had to wonder if Meris still kept up those nightmares. He hadn't complained of them over the summer, but he still didn't move out of James' room, either.

He got his answer — or as close as he was going to get to one — when on their first night back at Hogwarts, Meris rushed into the room and jumped up on the bed.

What James hadn't been counting on, however, was the fact that Meris didn't really care which bed it was. He just jumped on the one closest to the door.

And that is the story of how Remus got a bed-buddy for the year.

**/\/\/\/\/\**

Meris only sometimes got to speak with Severus. The older boy was almost avoiding him, only talking to him on a strictly need-to basis. At least he was civil when he did.

Lily he talked to more often, though she obviously disapproved of him hanging around with his brother and friends. And most of the times when they talked, James would come around and interrupt.

James and Sirius never approved of him being civil with Sev. They started nicknaming him Snivellus and pranking him more often.

Lily approved even less.

**/\/\/\/\/\**

Meris noticed how Remus was sometimes absent. He noticed how it was always on a cycle of a certain number of days. He noticed how, when Remus returned, Meris had to be more careful than usual not to jostle him too hard at night. Gradually, he started noticing the holes in his reasons for leaving, and the fact that the moon was always in the same phase.

So he told James. Then they let Sirius in on it. Then Peter. With their combined efforts, it didn't take long to figure out.

Remus was a werewolf.

**/\/\/\/\/\**

"It's _wicked_," Meris told Remus out of the blue one day, while they were playing Wizard Chess in their dorm room.

Remus blinked. "What is?"

Meris leaned in closer and whispered, "You know, your werewolf-thing."

"_**What**_**?**" Remus yelped, falling to the floor.

"Oh, right, you don't know we know. Sorry," he apologised. "But, we know. And it's totally okay! And cool!"

Remus was in too much shock to reply.

"James and Sirius said they're working on a way we can help you. Something about animal juice, I think."

"Animal juice?" Remus gave him a strange look. "I think you mean — I don't know _what_ you mean this time."

**/\/\/\/\/\**

The first time he had actually **seen** one of James' more volatile pranks against Severus, Meris had been a second year. And he had _not_ liked it.

The so-called 'prank' was cruel and embarrassing, involved more hexes than could have been proper, and was most definitely _not_ all in good fun.

He and Lily had visited Sev in the hospital wing afterwards.

Meris had been appalled and furious. Lily had had to calm him down so that he didn't go bite his brother's head off.

Sev began to open up to him more after that.

**/\/\/\/\/\**

"I think, next year, we'll be able to do it," Sirius proclaimed. "By this time next year, we'll be animagi."

Meris was now a third year and the others were fourth years. Being able to accomplish such a thing so young sounded absolutely brilliant.

For the most part, this was to help Remus, so that they could accompany him when he turned.

But also, because it was really, really cool.

**/\/\/\/\/\**

"Move over, you lot."

James shuffled to the side and Sirius was thrown back as Meris wedged himself in-between them.

"Watch it!"

Forgetting it easily, Sirius threw his arm over Peter's shoulder and covertly made a pair of bunny ears over his head.

"Put your book down, Remus," James told the bookworm, who stood to his other side. Remus rolled his eyes, placed a bookmark in the pages and shut the book, but, however, kept it in his arms.

The camera snapped a picture.

**/\/\/\/\/\**

"Lily, your hair's a mess," Severus told her.

She crossed her arms over her chest and gave him a look. "Like _you're_ one to talk."

"But seriously, Lily, you should brush it," Meris produced a hairbrush from one of his bottomless pockets.

"Why do you even have this?" Lily inquired as she took it from him.

"You forget who my brother is," he reminded. "He happens to be particularly fond of hair related pranks. And come one Sev, at least _smile_."

The older student retained his cold expression. Meris laughed at how typical it was for Sev and patted him on the back.

A flicker indicated the photo being taken.

**/\/\/\/\/\**

It really just didn't feel right.

Ace always figured that when he set off to become a pirate, his brothers would be coming with him. Or at least, he'd have one of them to see him off.

And yet here he was. Going. _Alone_.

He had no idea what he'd find out there at sea, but he knew he'd have nakama someday. And he knew that when that day came, he'd be strong enough to protect them.

So as he pushed off from the dock, as he looked back and saw no one waving to him, as he looked forward and saw endless possibilities waiting for him, he knew he couldn't wait any longer.

Because it was his time to set sail.

**/\/\/\/\/\**

They had done it. They had all done it. It had been hard, but they did it.

James was a stag. Tall and proud with large antlers that Sirius had compared to salad prongs.

Sirius was a dog. Meris had snickered of it being fitting.

Peter was a rat. James highlighted the perks of being able to fit through new secret passages they had never been small enough for before.

Meris was a wild boar. Peter had joked about him eating like one.

Sirius had irrevocably dubbed James 'Prongs' after his little simile. It was decided the rest of them needed nicknames as well.

Peter became Wormtail.

Sirius was Padfoot.

Remus was entitled Moony.

And Meris was christened Piglet.

It was at that point they decided that creativity was overtaxing, because if they had a sixth, who, say, became an ocelot, they would have invariably called them Cat. Their real creativity of the night was in designating their group the Marauders just before they fell asleep.

**/\/\/\/\/\**

Meris could not believe his own friends. He could not believe that they would consider doing something like that to Sev.

Stringing him up with his own spell in such a humiliating way. The only reason he wasn't over helping Sev at that moment was because Sev had called Lily a _Mudblood._

He couldn't talk to his friends, either. He didn't want to be around people like them right now.

So he was talking to Lily.

James was glaring at him with jealousy from across the common room. He had tried to approach them earlier (probably to flirt with Lily) but Meris scared him away with his most deadly glare.

He stopped coming to their room at night. He didn't join them on the next full moon. He didn't participate in any more of their pranks.

**/\/\/\/\/\**

Ace did not like being on the Moby Dick. He felt like a failure. The last time he felt like a failure was when he lost Luffy.

Ace did not accept their invitations to their crew. They wouldn't accept _him_ if they knew what a monster he was.

He wouldn't accept a father. Not after his own pushed his sins onto him.

He wouldn't accept brothers. Not after what happened to the last ones he had.

If he actually accepted brothers, no matter how he consciously knew that they were more than replacements, there would still be a part of him that would feel endless guilt for it.

So he couldn't. No matter what happened.

**/\/\/\/\/\**

Meris believed his friends even less this time.

Sirius had almost gotten Sev _killed_.

And James had saved his life.

James, Moony, and Peter were all fairly innocent in this. However, he would _never_ acknowledge Sirius again. _Never_.

Sev became fairly withdrawn. He wouldn't talk to Meris, or even Lily.

So Meris spent more time with Lily. He came to forgive James, for the most part, on the grounds that he never pranked Sev again and that he learned from his mistakes.

James accepted.

He quickly became noticeably more mature. He lost a lot of his old arrogance and his flirtations became more dignified.

Lily accepted one of his date offers. He whooped for joy.

James and the others gradually forgave Sirius.

Meris never did.

**/\/\/\/\/\**

Meris lay in a bed in the hospital wing. He had never thought he'd be in such a situation.

He and Remus were in a bookstore in Hogsmeade when a group in black robes descended upon them. He remembers a small amount of struggling, someone hissing something about _the Mudblood resisting the Imperious_ before he saw them knock Remus unconscious. He remembered yelling, screaming at them to _**STOP**_ and then they all dropped to the ground for some reason, out cold.

He had grabbed Remus and ran back to Hogwarts.

He looked over to the bed next to him. Remus was there, still unconscious, but Madam Pomfrey said he'd get better.

He shifted back into his original position when something caught his eye.

Shakily, he pushed himself to his feet, catching himself when he stumbled. He walked over to the large cabinet and stood on his toes to reach the item on top of it.

What he pulled down was odd but familiar. An old straw hat, well worn from years of use and yet covered in dust as though it had sat still for years at a time.

He remembered how he got it. How Shanks gave it to him.

He remembered how, after Shanks left, his grandfather had forced him to move in with some bandits. How another boy, Ace, had lived there too, how he had met Ace's friend Sabo and how the three of them became brothers.

He remembered how he had wandered off, became involved in a fight with some oddly dressed people — who wore the same black robes of the people today, who wore the same white masks — and one of them held a funny stick — _wand_, he knew now — to his temple, how the world faded around him, how he had woken up faced with the Headmaster and been introduced to Hermanus Potter shortly after. He remembered being Luffy.

The first thing he did was write a letter.

**/\/\/\/\/\**

Ace couldn't believe himself sometimes. He had _actually_ accepted. Actually become a part of this crew.

And now they wanted him to be their second division commander.

And he really _couldn't_.

He was trying to think of a way to get out of this one when an… Owl? approached the Moby Dick by sky. It landed next to him and offered a leg, which had a piece of paper tied around it, to him. _What?_

By now the entire deck was watching the exchange. Carefully taking the parcel from it, he wondered if he needed to pay it like a regular News Coo. However, it seemed content to just wait next to him. He took the letter and opened it curiously.

_Dear Ace,_

_I am so, so sorry. You must have thought I was dead or something. But it's okay! Your little brother Luffy is all right!_

Disbelief was the only thing he felt. He really couldn't feel anything else at a time like this. He didn't believe this person behind the letter, and unless they provided some irrefutable proof that Luffy was okay, he wouldn't believe a word they said.

_The thing is I got amnesia, and I couldn't remember you at all until recently. I've been living under the name Meris. Anyway, the owl's name is Toenail._

No, wait, that was definitely Luffy. Who else would name an owl Toenail?

But _how_ was it him?

_You can use her to send a letter back to me if you like. I've been learning magic at this school called Hogwarts, and I want to tell you __all__ about all the friends I've made and all the crazy magic I've learned. …Except Sirius, but that's because I'm angry at him right now._

Luffy… Magic? And _school? _As in _learning?_ What?

"Ace, are you okay?" Namur ventured. "You look like you've seen a ghost."

"Maybe I have…" Ace muttered. "…Hey, anyone got a pen and paper?"

**/\/\/\/\/\**

Meris returned to the common room feeling better than he ever had, holding the straw hat in his fingers.

He wondered, if he was going back to that world to become King, which he was, should he go back to using Luffy as his name? He was almost at the end of his sixth year already, and he had been using Meris since he was nine, but the people he knew there, like his family and Shanks, would be confused if they saw his face on a wanted poster along with a different name.

He should probably start getting used to calling himself Luffy again right away. He only had until he turned seventeen, after all.

**/\/\/\/\/\**

He didn't expect his friends to react as badly as they did. James acted like he had been betrayed, which he hadn't. It's not like he didn't plan to keep in touch, he just wanted to go back to his original career choice.

"You can get a job in the Wizarding World and be happy can't you?" James demanded.

"Not as happy as I could be!" Meri— Luffy served back. He didn't understand. Didn't James want him to feel fulfilled with his life?

"What can that life offer you that this life can't?"

"My older brother, for one!" Luffy vented.

"I _am_ your brother, Meris!" Luffy was getting angry. Angrier than he probably should be.

"You're NOT!" He meant '_you're not the one I'm talking about,_' but it sure didn't come out that way. "And don't call me that! My name is Luffy!"

James reeled back like he'd been struck across the face with a brick of spite. He marched forward and seized Luffy by the shoulders.

"Your name," he said with barely concealed fury. It was nearly a growl. "is Meris. And you are _my_ younger brother."

They stared into each other's eyes harshly.

"James," Luffy hissed. "Let go of me."

He didn't. Luffy pushed his hands away himself.

Something thick encircled the air. It made it hard to move and when Luffy left the room in a state of rage, James didn't go after him. He couldn't.

**/\/\/\/\/\**

"Meris?" Sev asked tentatively. "What are you doing with those bags?"

Luffy could ignore the name coming from Sev this time. Right now, he had a plan, and Sev had a part to play in it.

He reached into one of his bottomless pockets and produced the item he had prepared. Sev eyed it with intrigue as Luffy offered it to him.

"Sev," he stepped forward, "will you make me a promise?"

**/\/\/\/\/\**

Garp's grandson had been dropped on the Dadan family without warning, when they weren't able to take care of him. Somehow they had grown to be fond of him nonetheless. He had become a part of their family.

The thing was, Garp's grandson had disappeared off the face of the Earth seven years ago, just as unexpectedly as he had come. Just when they got used to having him around, they had to readjust to him _not _being there. They had seven entire years to forget his presence, and they still couldn't. Garp's grandson had simply _vanished_ seven years ago, leaving an undeniable hole in all of their lives.

So how was he _back_?

**/\/\/\/\/\**

The owl had arrived right when he was setting sail from Windmill Village. The villagers were watching his reactions curiously.

_Dear Meris_ — that part was crossed out.

_Luphie, _

They spelt it wrong.

_I know you probably don't want to hear from us, but we miss you dearly. Remus wouldn't let James __or__ Sirius write the letter, which I guess I understand. You have been pretty cheesed off with them lately, after all._

_I'm not sure what else to tell you, but James has been really, really guilt ridden ever since you left. He's just been moping around and wishing for the chance to apologise, and Lily's been the only one who can comfort him. We wish you would come back, and —_

Frankly, he was outraged.

_Why are they even trying?_

He crumpled the parchment into a ball and threw it as far away from himself as he could.

**/\/\/\/\/\**

_Dear Luffy,_

At least they got his name right this time.

_I don't expect you to respond to this. I know it's only the second letter any of us have sent you, but I can just tell you're not going to respond, at least not for a very, very long time. You're too stubborn. But I figure you at least want to keep up with what we're doing._

This reeked of Remus.

_The first thing that happened was graduation. James proposed to Lily as soon as the hats were in the air, and she said yes, unbelievably. Sirius and James want to become Aurors, and Peter's in medi-wizard training. I think I want to be a teacher, but I'll have to get credentials first._

_The others aren't quite as resigned as I am that you're staying where you are. They want to bring you back, and just to warn you, you should expect a fair lot of letters from them. I hope that you will at least forgive James and Sirius, because they really don't deserve —_

The Straw Hats, who had been looking inquisitively since their captain had received a letter by owl, had to wonder what had been written on it when Luffy tore the thing into shreds and dumped them all into the ocean.

**/\/\/\/\/\**

_Meris,_

He should know better than to use that name.

_Mum and Dad died. It was a Death Eater attack._

…Oh. _Oh._ Oh, God.

_In brighter news, Lily and I are expecting. There's going to be the pitter-patter of little feet around the house! We're thinking of making Sirius the godfather, what do you think?_

How dare James talk to him like nothing had ever happened? **And what the hell was that about Mum and**— Addolorata and Hermanus?

_So I'm thinking if it's a girl, we'll name her after Mum, and if a boy, after Dad. Except maybe a little more Muggle, like Annabelle or Henry._

_It's really just a shame s/he won't be able to meet his/her Uncle Meris. But you know, you could always come back. I miss you too much not to forgive you for —_

The straw hats were getting pretty used to Luffy's reactions to the letters that arrived almost every week by owl. But they had to remark that this time was the first time he had ever lit one of the letters on _fire_.

**/\/\/\/\/\**

_Piglet —_ crossed out — _Meris_ — crossed out — _Luffy,_

_Lily and James are dead. Wormtail — no, Peter was behind it. He gave their location to Voldemort. Little Harry was the only survivor._

_I'm going to track him down. Avenge them. I think Remus is with Harry but I can't be sure. Please, if you ever do come back, come back now. Harry needs all the help we can possibly give him. He needs his family, Pigl — Luffy._

What a horrible time for such a letter to come. Marineford had been less than a year ago. _And Sirius still asks him to come back_.

Rayleigh had been a little puzzled when an owl dropped by to give his new pupil a letter. He was even more mystified when, in the midst of laughing ironically, Luffy descended into tears.

**/\/\/\/\/\**

Harry was looking for the one-eyed witch shown on the Map. He was almost to the hallway when —

"Mr Potter," a condescending voice called from behind him. He turned around to face his least favourite teacher. "Please come with me."

He swallowed nervously, but followed. The man led him down the twisting corridors to the Potions Room. When they arrived, Snape stalked over to an old cupboard and opened a compartment Harry had never noticed there before. From it, he produced a small wooden box with a metal lock. _Odd for something in Hogwarts._

"I was asked by an old friend to give this to you," Snape told him derisively, with a tone as if the old friend was not someone he remembered very fondly.

"Me?" Harry inquired. "Why me?"

"You will see," Snape smirked at him.

"Does it come with a key?"

"It doesn't."

**/\/\/\/\/\**

"_Alohamora!"_

The lock clicked.

"Alohamora," Ron repeated Hermione's word nostalgically. "How much has _that _one helped us already, huh?"

"Hush," Harry instructed, "I want to get a look at what's inside already."

He flipped the lid open. The first thing he pulled out was a piece of parchment. He read aloud;

"_To Whom It May Concern:_

_I write this not long after a fairly unpleasant row with James, so please excuse anything I say badly of him. Though he really is a — never mind."_

"James?" asked Hermione. "As in your father?"

Harry just nodded.

"_I've known James since I was nine years old. He was ten at the time. The day I met them was the day I was adopted into the Potter family and became James' brother."_

"That makes this guy your uncle, Harry!" Ron exclaimed.

Harry didn't outwardly react. He was too busy focusing on how he never knew he had another uncle, he always thought he only had Uncle Vernon, and if he had another uncle, why did he have to spend his life with the Dursleys?

"Well he _did_ say he had a bad row with James," Hermione answered, and suddenly he realised he had spoken his thoughts aloud. "Maybe something bad happened that they never got over?"

They continued reading.

"_But that is not the point. During my Hogwarts days, I was friends with four boys in the year above me in Gryffindor. Their names were James Potter, Peter Pettigrew, Remus Lupin, and Sirius Black. If Sev does as I've asked him to, then one of these men is your father."_

"Black!" the three of them yelled together in shock.

"Your father was friends with _Black_?" Ron asked.

"That's not all. Doesn't Remus Lupin sound familiar to you?" Hermione raised a point. "_Professor Lupin_ was friends with Harry's father _and_ Sirius Black!"

They were interrupted as Harry continued from the letter.

"_They were pranksters, but some of the pranks they committed fell into the realm of bullying. I never approved. When they worked on a prank I didn't want to be a part of, I talked to my other friends, Sev and Lily."_

"Lily!" Hermione cooed excitedly. "That's your mother!"

"But who's Sev?" Ron questioned.

"_My friends and I, we all had nicknames. James was Prongs; Sirius was Padfoot; Remus Moony; Peter Wormtail; and I Piglet. I won't tell you why. Try and guess."_

"Those are the names on the map," Ron whispered conspiratorially.

"_When the Headmaster first found me roaming Hogwarts grounds, I had amnesia. When he placed me in the Potters' care, when I went through school, the entire time, I couldn't remember a thing about my life before then. But I remember now._

_When I told my friends about the past I remember, they didn't react as well as I'd hoped. James took it especially hard; he seems to think I want to abandon him. I just wanted to follow the dreams I had as a boy. It seemed like James wanted me to stay and feel unfulfilled with life for his own selfish reasons. We fought about it. It didn't end well."_

"So _that's_ what the row was about," Harry concluded.

"_I haven't been on very good terms with Sirius for a while now — he nearly __killed__ Sev a while ago."_

"So Black has always been a killer, huh," Ron said.

_"After that Sev started avoiding me, probably because I'm James' brother, and he hates James, so the only people I'm currently on good terms with are Remus, Peter, and Lily. But I'm leaving now._

_If you look inside the box, you'll find two photographs. One is of me and the other Marauders —"_

"Found it," Ron said. "They look so happy in the photo. Hard to believe one of them is a killer and another is dead."

"_From left to right; Remus, James, me, Sirius, and Peter."_

Remus certainly did look like a young Professor Lupin, holding that book like it was a lifeline. Sirius seemed… a lot friendlier than any of them would have imagined, holding a pair of bunny ears over Peter's head.

But Harry was focused on James. The father he had so few pictures of. He was looking at his uncle, too, the uncle he never knew he had.

"_And in the other picture—"_

"Here," Hermione presented it.

"_Is, from left to right, Lily, me, and Sev."_

Lily was brushing her hair for some reason. Sev kept a stoic face for the picture even though Harry's Uncle was laughing and slapping him on the back.

"Doesn't Sev look… familiar?" Ron questioned.

He did. When he looked, Sev's features eerily reminded him of… someone. He couldn't place it.

"_You'll also find my wand, and copies of all the letters James and I exchanged during his first year of Hogwarts. They have many tails of the Marauders pranks and I hope you can take some inspiration from them."_

"…Well? And then what?"

"And then it says, _Sincerely, Meris._ That's the end."

"Damn," Ron said, ignoring how Hermione scolded him for language. "And I hoped we would learn something more."

The three of them finished their homework before they discussed Harry's Uncle Meris any more. They decided that, if Meris didn't come back after what happened to Harry's parents, something terrible must have happened to him. Harry felt disappointed.

Would he really never get to meet his Uncle?

They also wondered about the fate of Peter Pettigrew, and why Remus never mentioned he was friends with Harry's parents. They resolved to start investigating the next day.

That night, Harry slept with his Uncle's wand under his pillow.

**/\/\/\/\/\**

"Professor Lupin?"

"What is it, Harry?"

"…If I wanted to write a letter to Uncle Meris, what should I write?"

**/\/\/\/\/\**

A/N: Wow. I wrote all this in a day. A _day_. Of course, the editing was done later, but seriously, a _day_. Twenty-five pages in Word. I feel really accomplished.

This is really me getting the handle on Harry Potter characters. I haven't written for them before, but I tried my best to get their characterization right. I don't actually know them very well.

Also my first crossover. I find I like crossovers. I'll probably make more in the future, but don't expect them to always be of these two fandoms.

Toodles!


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